Some Hearts
by the real Violet Parr
Summary: Songfic to Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts. Hornet has a nightmare about her father, and Prosper comes to comfort her...rated Kplus for mild violence


I got the idea for this a couple days ago. Sorry if I got anybody out of character - Hornet and Prop may be a little bit like the movie versions of them because I just watched the movie a couple days ago. But I also read the book yesterday, so I hope I got their characters right. The song is "Some Hearts" by Carrie Underwood - I thought it sort of fit and I hope somebody else does too...

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_"You'll never be good for anything, girl!"__ Dominic Grimani yelled as he slapped her hard across the face. "Do you hear me? Never!"_

Hornet jerked awake in terror. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and she flicked her eyes over the dark room, half expecting her father to be standing before her with his hand raised for another slap. When she realized that it had only been a dream and that she was in fact in her new room at Ida Spavento's house, she calmed down a bit. _He's not here,_ Hornet reassured herself shakily. _You're safe now, he can't find you here._

"Hornet?" The door creaked open and the beam of a flashlight shone into the room.

The poor girl nearly jumped out of her skin and began trembling furiously before she recognized the face of her friend Prosper. "P-Prop," she murmured. "You startled me."

Prosper, a dark-haired boy with serious eyes, looked at her with concern. "I heard you cry out and...I wanted to make sure you were okay." As he finished his sentence a blush began to creep over his cheeks.

"Oh, Prop," Hornet said softly, smiling a bit. She was touched. "Thank you." Trying not to let the fact that she was turning red as well show, she wondered once more why the sight of him did something to her that nothing before him had. Ever since she'd first seen the quiet, serious boy on the streets of Venice with his younger brother Bo, she'd had the strange feeling that she could trust Prosper.

His dark eyes met hers and he asked softly, "Are you all right?"

Shaking her head, Hornet tried to hold back the tears she could feel burning behind her eyelids. But it was no good; a few leaked out and ran down her cheeks.

Fortunately, Prosper wasn't the type of boy who ran away when he saw a girl crying. He sat down next to Hornet and put an arm around her shoulder gently. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her initial reaction was a resounding no, but when she opened her mouth she found herself saying, "My...my father was verbally and physically abusive, I had a nightmare about him."

_ I've never been the kind that you'd call lucky  
Always stumbling' around in circles  
But I must have stumbled into something  
Look at me  
Am I really alone with you _

Nodding sympathetically, his eyes asked silently if she wanted to continue talking. If it had been anyone else in the world, Hornet wouldn't have said one word more; but it was Prosper, and she trusted him completely.

"When I was ten I ran away from home," she continued in a shaky voice. "My mother couldn't take care of me - she had serious depression and almost never came out of her room - and my father made me go out during the day and steal food and money so we could survive." Choking back a sob, Hornet gazed at the floor and tried to stop the flood of memories that was returning as she told Prosper her story. "If I didn't bring back enough, he'd hit me and yell at me, and then he'd take whatever money I did have and get himself drunk."

Prosper's eyes were full of compassion. "So you ran away."

"Yes. I couldn't take it anymore, so I took what books I had and left. I travelled alone for a while, heading in any direction I could, as long as it was away from my house. Then I met Riccio and Mosca, living in an alley, and they said I could join their gang. At first I didn't trust them, but we ended up living in an abandoned house together and eventually I began to think of them as friends. That's where Scipio found us. He took us to the Star-Palace and...you know the rest of the story, I guess." Hornet frowned when she thought of how all that had turned out.

"I guess you didn't trust Scip either, huh?" asked Prosper.

"No. It's always taken me awhile to warm up to anyone male, because of my father."_ Except for you,_ she though, but she didn't say that aloud. "And I guess I was right not to trust Scip - but I'm still grateful to him for what he did for Riccio, Mosca, and me."

Prop nodded. "He had good intentions, if nothing else."

Her story finished, Hornet sat still for a moment, not talking, simply enjoying Prosper's closeness and the warmth from his body. He was silent as well, but that was not a surprise; Prosper was quieter than the rest of the gang had been.

_ I wake up feeling like my life's worth living  
Can't recall when I last felt that way  
Guess it must be all this love you're giving  
Never knew never knew it could be like this  
But I guess _

Finally he spoke. "I wish," he said softly, "that people like your father didn't exist, or at least that they would stay away from innocent people like you."

Hornet didn't say how many times she'd wished that very thing herself; she just listened to him talk.

"If your father were here right now," he continued, "I would like very much to hurt him the same way he hurt you."

Trying not to show how much what Prosper had said thrilled her, Hornet said, "But Prop, he'd flatten you!"

"I wouldn't care if he did, as long as I got a few hits in," He smiled, but his eyes were serious. "Anyone who hurts you, or even tries, is going to have to answer to me."

"W-What do you mean?" Hornet asked, sure she must be dreaming. Surely Prosper couldn't mean...

Before he answered he put his other arm around her and gazed intently into her eyes. "I mean, Hornet, that I love you and I won't let anyone get away with hurting you." Then he leaned down and gently kissed her.

_ Some hearts  
They just get all the right breaks  
Some hearts have the stars on their side  
Some hearts,  
They just have it so easy  
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes  
Some hearts just get lucky, lucky sometimes_

Her heart racing, Hornet expected to wake up at any moment. But this was real - Prosper had said he loved her and was kissing her!

When he pulled back she saw that his cheeks were red again. "I-I'm sorry, Hornet," Prosper muttered, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I didn't mean to..."

"You said you loved me. No one's ever told me that before." Hornet supposed she was in shock, for she felt as if she wasn't controlling her mouth anymore. "Prosper, were you telling the truth?"

_ Now who'd have thought someone like you could love me  
You're the last thing my heart expected  
Who'd have thought I'd ever find somebody  
Someone who someone who makes me feel like this  
Well I guess _

He nodded and said softly, "Yes. But you probably hate me now, don't you?" Now he was looking into her eyes again, searching them, pleading with her: _Don't hate me. Please. I couldn't bear it if you did._

"How could I hate you, Prop?" whispered Hornet. "You're the only person, besides Bo, that I've ever trusted from the moment I met you! I don't hate you at all..." The rest of the sentence came out so quietly she wasn't sure if he even heard it. "I love you."

_ Some hearts  
They just get all the right breaks  
Some hearts have the stars on their side  
Some hearts  
They just have it so easy  
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes  
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes  
Ohhhhhh_

_Even hearts like mine  
Get lucky, lucky sometimes_

_Even hearts like mine _

Apparently Prosper had heard the rest of it, for his eyes grew bright and he asked, "You do, Hornet?"

She nodded and snuggled closer to him. "I do, Prosper. I have from the first day I met you."

Kissing the top of her head, Prosper replied, "So have I."

Hornet felt herself growing sleepy. "Goodnight, Prop," she murmured, leaning into his chest. She was asleep within minutes, feeling safer in his arms than she had in a long time.

_Some hearts  
They just get all the right breaks  
Some hearts have the stars on their side  
Some hearts  
They just have it so easy  
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes_

_Some hearts  
They just get all the right breaks  
Some hearts have the stars on their side, yes  
Some hearts  
They just have it so easy  
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes  
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes_

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Reviews are nice, but please don't flame me!


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